A Deadly Kore
by JillianCastile
Summary: Kore dropped out of her Academy at sixteen, when her mother died. Now at twenty two years old, she has been an infamous assassin for five years. When she finds out she has a half sister, she will do anything to protect her and her friends from a revenge seeking Moroi, no matter what the cost. But how much will Kore have to give up for her sister's family? Only time will tell.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

God, do I hate this. This is the downside to being an assassin, the dickwad clients. I've killed for a shit load of good reason, rape, murder, theft, abandonment, but this is just dumb as shit.

"So, let me get this straight. You want me to kill this girl, Rose, because her boyfriend picked her over you?"

What a bitch. I'm a dhampir, and before you ask, the answer is no. I'm not a guardian, I trained till I was sixteen, but they system is fucked. Really fucked, I get that Moroi need to be protected so we can all survive, but they are stuck up, royal, and rich bastards. I don't usually kill Moroi or dhampirs, but sometimes, it's necessary. They think they can get away with anything, well guess the fuck what assholes? You can't.

"Well, yes, but she framed me for killing the queen!"

"Wait, you mean you want me to kill Rose Hathaway? Hah! No way Jose, not gonna fucking happen."

I swear a lot, it's just how I let my anger out.

"She is an ungrateful blood whore and I—"

"Woah, buddy! Look, I get that you don't like her, but it was actually you, who did kill the late queen, and I'm not killing Hathaway, or any other dhampir or Moroi."

She gives me a pretty frightening look, if I don't say so myself. "You will kill her, if I pay you. It is your job. And I am a paying client."

"Okay, here's the run-down, old lady. I don't kill our kind, unless they really deserve it, and Rose doesn't. So cut the shit and—wait, I thought you were in jail." Her eyes slightly widen in alarm, but she quickly recovers. "Holy shit…. Did you escape prison?" Her look tells all. "Okay, get the fuck out, you are a fucking murderer, and so help me god, if you don't get out right now, I will take you down myself and call the Guardians. Get Out."

She glares, but she's frightened, so she bolts.

Fucking royals… I don't ever work with people who want to kill my kind, I won't stop them from killing them, but I won't do it myself.

I'm only twenty-two, I've been an assassin for five years, since I was seventeen. I learned my way in guns for half a year, then did small jobs, but people started noticing my technique and stealth. I gotta say, I'm pretty damn good at what I do. All the mafias, criminals, and other hit men know me. I do anything, find people, kill people, steal from people, do what you pay me to do to people. It's all I really know anymore.

My work phone, yes, I have a phone with all my contacts, goes off in my pocket. I fish it out and look at the screen. "Unknown ID." Decline. I don't answer calls who are random phone numbers, too dangerous. But it goes off again, and again, and again, and a-fucking-gain. I finally get pissed off enough to answer the call.

"Who are you, and what the damn hell do you want?" I growl into the phone.

"Wow, nice way to treat a potential client. I'm Clynt, and I want to hire you for, um, work."

I roll my eyes. This guy doesn't know the ropes, you get their full name, do back round checks, make him go somewhere where he can't see you, but he can't see you, it's not safe. "Okay, first of all, I need your full name, and what exactly does this job entail doing?"

"Umm… full name is Clynt Joel Gratto, CEO of Gratto Industries, and the job is locating someone important." He sounds really freaking nervous, wonder why? Maybe it's because he's on the phone with a well known hit woman?

"Okaaay… and that important someone is…?" I have to know who the damn person is to find them numbnuts.

I think I hear him mumble "fuck it" but I'm not sure. "The queen's little sister."

"Wow, okay, I think I'm kind of flattered. But who's little sister exactly? Because there are a lot of queens that have little sisters in the world."

"Queen Vasilisa Rhea Dragomir's little sister."

I sit in my chair, gaping through the phone. He wants me to find the Moroir queens little sister? I think not, dude.

"Umm, why exactly would I do that?" I hope it's for a lot of money, because if it is, I'm all in. I won't kill my kind, but they won't be missing a crown.

"I need her for a certain deal with the queen, but someone kidnapped her. If we pull the deal off, I'll get thirty million and the girl doesn't get hurt in the process."

I start choking on the huge gulp of water I just took. Thirty million?! That would be a hell and fuck yes!

"Woah, okay, yeah, definitely. I'll do it. When does he want the deal to go down?" I'm smiling now, this kind of stuff gives me adrenaline, I love it. And I love money, hello new ton of jeans, leggings, and boots. Yep, that's what I wear all the time, dresses and heels? Only when I'm doing it for a job, I hate those things.

"In one week. Can you do it?" He sounds like an arrogant asshole.

"Like I couldn't; best in the business baby." He audibly swallows, _exactly, asshole, I'm smug and sexy when I want to be._

"Okay, nice doing business with you."

"You too, call when I get them." And I hang up.

No one knows my real name, I usually tell them it's Heather or Hanna, never my real name.

Kore Iris Mazur


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

My mom never told my dad about me so I never got to meet him, he doesn't even know about me. My mother died, so I never even had a chance to know him, all I know is his last name, which is mine; Mazur. I never really wanted to find my dad, I mean sure, my mom never told him about me, but he didn't make an effort to stay with a human.

Speaking of humans, I pull out my phone and dial my best friend, Daryon Sunter. He's gorgeous and one hundred and ten percent pure gay. He's the only one who knows my whole story, and yes, he knows about dhampirs and Moroi and all that fun crap.

"Hey Krissy," my adorable nickname that only he uses, "I was wondering when you'd call, have any people to kill today?" He knows who I am, what I do, and he loves me even more for it.

"Oh, you know, the usual. Have to locate the Dragomir princess and I get fifteen."

"Fifteen grand? Dayumn, nice girl." He's just adorable.

"No, actually, fifteen million." I hear coughing and the phone fall to the floor, a few seconds later, I hear him pick up the phone and scream at me.

"YOU'RE GETTING FIFTEEN MILLION FUCKING DOLLARS?"

"If I find the girl one week, then yes, I do." I'm smiling to myself, it's not every day you get to be in my line of work.

"Girl, the next time we go to a gay bar, you are paying, no way in hell I am." God, I love this man with all my heart.

"HAH! Ok, deal, as long as I get to be wingwoman?"

"You know it, now get your ass over here bitch I have needs." His words make me double over in laughter. After we hang up, put browse the music on my phone. Ahh, "Haunted" by Beyonce, this song is my muse. I put it on full blast, the way it vibrates, it makes calm me down.

I rub the back of my neck, feeling the raised skin of my promise mark, well actually, it's fake, for jobs like this, I need to be a Guardian. I got it when I was seventeen, along with seven other moljina marks, that part actually is true, I've killed seven strigoi. Don't mind boasting about that either, bastards they are, deserve to be killed.

I flip open my computer, buy a plane ticket, for tomorrow, to Pennsylvania. There, done, it's not going to be a problem, the girl doesn't get hurt, I'm all for it.

I grab my car keys and head outside my house, locking my door on my way out, and head to Daryon's apartment. I love driving. I go out to an airfield at least once a week so I can drive fast and recklessly.

I live six minutes from Daryon, so it's not a long drive, well, usually not. I notice a tail trailing close behind me. _Okay, whoever you are, buckle up. _I slow at the next red light, checking my rearview mirror to see if he's still there, spoiler alert, he is. I pick up my phone and call Daryon

"Hey, Dary, um… I have some business to take care of, be there in twenty?"

He lets out a frustrated, but concerned sigh, "As long as you stay safe Krissy, I love you. And please, for the love of god, stay safe." Hearing him express his concern for me creates a slight burn behind my eyes.

"You know I will, I love you too, Daryon. Be there soon" He hangs up after a beat.

"Okay dickwad, you up for a little game?" I smile and watch the traffic light closely, waiting for it to turn green, and when it does, I press the gas pedal down to the ground, and take off speeding. Of course he follows, so I take a sharp U-turn. He tries to catch up but he's a little farther behind me than before. There's a hay field a mile down, I'll go there. He accelerates and bumps into me.

"Watch it pal," I growl. "This car is my baby, you fuck it up, I'll fuck you up worse." This car was my mother, a gift from my father twenty three years ago.

I lift my foot off the gas pedal slowly, and he gains on me. Just as he bumps my car, I step on it, leaving him in the dust, but he quickly comes back up behind me. _Shit I'm not going to be able to lose this guy. Think Kore…_ Well, I could challenge him, crash back into him then do an about-face and rev my engine, it's worked before, it can work again.

I push the pedal down further, and when he's behind me, I switch to reverse, back up, and slam into him with a loud shattering noise.

I hear a loud bark followed by a growl. _Woah, what? The driver sounds like a dog. The hell?_

I grab my handgun and jump out of the car. Okay, wait there is a guy driving, so… Oh shit, he has a dog in the fucking trunk, well unless it's on the floor. I cock my gun and shoot the drivers knee, just in case the asshole wakes up, and walk to the back of the car. Damnit, why does a cars' trunk have to be locked? I think a serial killer designed it like that. What am I supposed to do? I'll just ask if someone's in there. _No, dipshit, it's a dog not a person._ Right, a dog, not a person

I pound on the trunk and wait for a response, but I hear nothing. I start to walk to the front of the car, but I'm stopped when I hear a long bang behind me. I turn around but I'm taken to the ground by a huge mass of gray fur. I try to fight it and stand up, but this isn't a dog, it's a psi-hound. Son. Of. A. Bitch. Fuck. My. Life.

Suddenly, he just runs away. Confused, I stand back up and brush the dirt off of me. I have no idea what the fuck just happened, but I grab my gun off the ground, and happily put one right in between the drivers' eyes. Whatever the hell just happened, it really wasn't fun, and I'd be happy if it didn't happen again. God, this world is so friggin' screwed


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

After checking for damage on my car I drive out to Daryon's, and as soon as he sees me, he knows something happened and he's in full "take-care-of-Kris mode."

"Dear God, girl, what the hell happened?" He stares down at my, wide-eyed.

"It's noting Dar, I had a tail so I went off the road, we fought, he isn't with us anymore." I smirk and wink at him, and he laughs. Daryon doesn't like hearing about killing people unless the deserved it, it's one of the many reason I love him.

"Good, no one hurts my Krissy without getting an ass kicking. And a good one at that."

"You know I kick ass, yours included. If you deserve it, you get it." He looks at me like he's getting ready to run away if I make a move. I laugh at his reaction, "Chill, you don't deserve it right now, you're being the sweetest, like usual."

He smiles and turns me around on the couch, and starts to rub my shoulders. "I know, you want to watch Grey's Anatomy? I've missed like the last four episodes. You down?"

"Mmmm, if you keep doing this, yes."

As Daryon turns on the TV, my personal phone goes off, and my best friend's name flashes across the screen. "Oh, sorry Daryon, this shouldn't take long, but go ahead and watch without me." I walk out of the room and answer the phone.

"Hey Karolina, what's up?" I met Karolina and her younger sister, Viktoria, in Russia while I was working a job. We became friends quickly, and we've always just stayed in touch.

"Kris, where are you?" Her voice was low and laced with fear. That snapped me to attention.

"What's wrong K? Are you ok?" I couldn't lose her, I've lost so much, too much. I'd die the most painfull death before letting anyone I loved die.

"I'm in New York, someone was trying to hurt me in Russia, so I left to protect my family," she's always so selfless, "but they are outside my hotel room. Please come get me Kore, I'm scared they'll kill me."

"Of course I'm coming, what hotel?" She tell me the hotel name, and I race back into the living room and quickly tell Daryon what happened.

"God, yes, go and make sure she's okay, and kill those assholes." Despite myself, I smile

"Talk to you later!" I yell behind me as I run out the door. As soon as I get to my car, I jump in and speed off. The Time Square Hotel is seventeen minutes away. She could be killed. I press the gas pedal harder. I get so distracted that I don't even realize I ran a red light and almost caused an accident. Horns blared, tires skidded, people shouted. I cringed and kept driving, I won't let Karolina die, not in a lifetime. My eyes found the sign for the hotel. There can't be more ten guys and not draw attention, I can take on ten dhampirs or humans, easy. Dhampirs shouldn't have business with Karolina, but neither should humans. Following her all the way over to New York? God, what's their deal with Karolina? I come to an abrupt stop in front of the hotel and bolt out of the car, heading straight for the front desk, a perky, curvy, redhead smiles perky, curvy, redhead smiles brightly at me. I fake a smile back, I need Karolina's room number, but she wouldn't be dumb enough to use her own name, I told her to always use mine.

"Hi, my name's Megan Mazur, and my sister checked in her a few nights ago, her name's Kore Mazur, can you give me her room number please?" She eyes my for a beat, then quickly works her fingers on the keyboard in front her. She turns back to me, still smiling, and says, "Your sister is in room 128 on the third floor. Have a nice day Ms. Mazur." I smile back, and bolt up the stairs, not even thinking about taking the elevator.

Once I got up to Karolina's room I slowly tried the knob, finding it unlocked, I pushed the door open. Instinctively, I reached back with my left hand to touch the grip of my glock that's tucked into the waistband of my jeans. I can fight with my fists pretty damn well, but I can do wonders with my beloved guns. The hotel room is pitch black, but I can make out an overturned table and broken lamp. I will reign hell on these assholes if they hurt Karolina. Movement catches my eye. I turn left and see a dark figure in the corner. I pull my gun and shoot twice and go make sure he's dead. I put two in his heart. One down, and a few more to go. I check the room he just came out of. That room's cleared. I keep my gun down and silently move through the hotel room, checking to make sure all the rooms are clear. _How many doors can a freaking hotel room have? Jesus… _I open one of the last doors, bringing my gun up to my chest. This is obviously the bathroom, I turn around to leave when I hear a small movement. I freeze in my tracks and slowly turn around, gripping my gun tighter. The only place the sound could have come from, the shower. _It could be Karolina dumbass. _Oh, it could be her. Well, might as well try…

"Karolina?" My voice is still in a whisper, if other people are in here, I don't want to alert them where I, and possibly Karolina, am. But, to me relief, Karolina whispers back.

"Kore? You're here?" She sounds scared, but relieved.

"Yes, I'm here. Stay here, if someone comes in here and finds you, scream, I'll come. Okay?"

"Okay, and be careful Kris." I smile, even though she's in danger, she makes sure that I'm safe too.

"I promise, K."

I duck out of the bathroom and open the door right next to the one I just exited. I hear something move as soon as I open the door, that puts me on alert, but I know there is more than one person in this room. Something brushes across my leg and I freeze. Everyone in this room knows what going to happen. I secure my handgun in the back of my waistband again and go full dhampir kick ass mode. My eyes have adjusted to the dark, so I can make out four figures, but that's just what I can see, there are probably more. I straighten my back, ball my fists, bend my knees, and talk.

"Let's see who had better training." I talk smugly, trying to intimidate them. I really hope it's working because I'm actually shaking. I can fight them all because they aren't strigoi, they're humans. _Fuck…_

_This was probably a bad idea… too late now._


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

I made the first move; I stepped back and grabbed the person behind me. I slammed him against the wall, and they all came at me. This is all I know, and I know how to do it pretty damn well, too bad they don't know that. I lash out, they tried to hurt Karolina, I'm going to kill them all. But five thirty some year old guys all trying to kill you is a bit of a challenge.

Two guys come up behind me and grab my arms, holding me back, while someone tries to punch me in the gut, _not cool, bro. So unfair. _He throws a punch and I make my move. I use my upper body strength to lift my legs up and kick him in the throat. I swing my body, making one of my captors lose his grip on my arm, and flip over the guy behind me, kick behind his knees, and snap his neck. _One down, four to go. _One of the men reached behind him, grabbed his gun, and shot. He shot four times, I dodged, moving left and right. Once I got up to him I grabbed his wrist and broke his arm. He went down to his knee with a painful cry. I put my hands on either sides of his neck and snapped it. _Only three more, Kris. _The man I slammed to the wall before I got held down, is now up on his feet, and starts swinging at me. He catches me off guard and gets two hits on me, one on my jaw, and one in my ribs. I block his next hit and punch him in the face a few times, but the two other men join in on the fight. I can barely remember what happened, I felt a pain in my right shoulder, and whenever I threw a punch, it hurt a hell of a lot more than it usually does. All I know is, about a minute later, I had killed two of the three, but the last one, something was different, wrong. He was easily blocking, his punches and kicks hurt a lot worse than they did in the Academy when I fought my teachers. The realization hit me like a brick. He isn't human.

He's a strigoi. And he's going easy on me, _shitballs, this can't be good… _

I would love to rub it in the Guardian's faces that I thought to melt a few stakes and formed bullets with them. Shoot strigoi in the heart with them and they're dead, easy as hell. Guardians may have the moves but most of them don't have brains, I mean how simple is the idea of melting a stake to turn it into bullets?

The strigoi sensed my realization, so he picked me up, threw me down to the ground, and started beating the holy shit out of me. Kicks and punches to my face, ribs, and gut. Pain overtook my body, almost to the point where I couldn't take it all. It took all my power and energy to reach behind me and grab my gun. One, two, three, four shots. I lift my head up to see where the shots hit him. One in the shoulder, two in the heart, one into his rib cage. He's dead; they all are, and I feel like I got hit by a damn bus. Repeatedly. Karolina, she's okay. I protected her, I saved her. I smiled, but it quickly dropped. It hurt to smile. I need a hospital.

"Karolina, it's okay. Come here now, I need some help." My voice sounded low, rough, and kind of gravelly.

I hear a door open and the light turns on, I groan loudly. The light hurts pretty freakin' bad.

"Oh my god, Kris!" I have my eyes closed, but I hear her drop to her knees right beside me. "Krissy, can you hear me? Open your eyes?" I try to open my eyes, but quickly shut them, Again, the light hurts. I try to respond to her though.

"Ho… spital… K…" I can't finish my sentence, or even stay awake.

"Ok, hospital. Right now Krissy. Don't worry girlie, I'm right here for you." And that was the last thing I heard before everything went black.

"I know… I know… I get it _Dimka _but—yes, I know and I'm sorry but I need your help. Please, I haven't seen a damn hospital for miles, and Lissa can heal her." I try to open my eyes, but it still hurts, in fact everything hurts a hell of a lot more that it used to before. I hear a pause while Karolina talks to, I presume, someone on the phone. Her brother, I think. She's talked about him before. His name is Dimitri and his girlfriend is the queen's Guardian, Rose Hathaway.

"Please? Really? Oh my god, thank you! She's about ready to die with the beat-down he gave her. I know, and I'll explain when you get there." There's another pause while she waits for him to answer her. "I love you, too. Ok, I'll see you in an hour. Bye Dimka." She put her phone down and called for me. "Krissy, girlie, are you awake yet?" I answer her with a slight nod and a mumbled "uh-huh." I opened my eyes, ignoring the pain shooting through me.

"Ok, good. We're almost out of New York, and we're heading to Court in Pennsylvania. And don't worry, a spirit user is going to heal you and then you can leave. I know you don't like being around all those Guardians and Moroi. I'll get you out of there when I can, girlie." I grant her a small smile because she's right. Guardians look down on me because I dropped out for my own selfish reasons. I hate seeing their judgmental faces, and small jabs. It makes me feel like a selfish bastard. I'm not, though. I just couldn't make it through life without my best friend; my mother. I didn't like her not telling my father about me, but I kind of get it, my father is a Moroi, they don't usually take care of us dhampirs and she didn't want to weigh that on him, though it's slightly unfair to whoever he is.

"Thank… you, K…"

I'm beaten to hell, in more pain than I've ever been in, and I'm going to the last place I want to be on Earth to get the Moroi queen, who's little sister's disappearance, is my current job, to get healed by her. This is literally one of the weirdest, unreal, ironic days of my life. _Well Krissy, this should be fun…_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

"Krissy?! Damnit Karolina, can she even hear me? Or is she still out cold? I need to hear my baby's voice." Ahh, Daryon, always so worried about my safety, especially with my line of work. I try to say something, but it completely backfires and I start coughing. This makes it hurt even. Fucking. More. UGH! I stop coughing eventually and slowly turn my head and see I coughed up blood. Shit… that's probably bad, right?

"K… blood…" I slowly open my eyes, the pain still coursing through my body, and look at Karoline. She's looking at me with wide eyes filled with concern. She looks back at the road and turns the wheel. I assume she's turning over

"Shit… Daryon she's coughing up blood I'll call you back."

"Karolina, don't yo—" She hangs up on him before he can get another word out. If she didn't, he'd be screaming on the phone waiting for me to answer him. Karolina gets out of the car and opens the back door right in front of me.

"Oh God… don't worry Kris, I won't let you die because you saved me. We're twenty minutes away, we'll be there in no time girlie." She kisses my forehead and slowly shuts the door, thankfully, not making a loud noise. She jumps back into the driver's seat, and pulls out her phone. She pulls back onto the road, dialing a number at the same time. She puts the phone to her ear and after a few beats, someone answers, and she talks.

"Hey, we're twenty minutes away, she's coughing up blood now and I'm speeding… I get that, but she saved my damn life, and she's my best friend. Dimitri… I'm sorry I didn't call you first, but protecting a royal is a little bit more important than—Okay! Okay, fine… Yeah I know… Okay, love you. Bye." She tosses her phone to the passenger seat and looks at me through the rearview mirror, her eyes still full of fear and concern.

"I'm… Okay…" I can only utter those two words, even those two small words caused pain, God, I really hate this. I lay my head back down on the car seat and shut my eyes. It made some pain go away. I'm not going to be sleeping in these next twenty minutes, great, this should be a fun car ride. Karolina gives me one last long glance, then she turns her attention back to the road. I want to ask her about the people following her, and also why she didn't call me earlier, but I can't get anything to come out of my mouth. God, this fucking sucks. The guy got at least twenty five hits on me, and I still don't know why my shoulder hurts so damn much, but it really does. I can only imagine how messed up my face looks right now. Most of the damage was done on my ribs, stomach, and hips. _Who the hell kicks someone's hip? What a dick… _And now, I have to go to Court so I can be healed, because I'm actually dying right now. Fuck this day. Is it bad that I really want food now? I would rather just eat a lot of food than step foot in Court, can we just do that instead? Wendy's please? No? Yep, I hate today. I now despise Thursdays.

I try to open my eyes again, shutting them immediately when a small ray of the Sun shines through the windows. Ok, so it's sundown. It's like eight thirty now, right? God, I don't know. Shit what if I run into _him._ Jessie Zeklos. Grade-A dickwad. Him and his friend, Wesley, drugged me when I was seventeen, then tried to rape me. I came to right before they… anyways, I tried to fight them off, but they tied me down. I have a scar on my lower back from what they did to me. They chocked me. I was terrified. Both Daryon and Karolina know what they did, because whenever someone holds my throat even a little tighter than a touch, I have a panic attack. My knees give out, I can't breathe on my own, and my heart beats a little too fast for comfort. If I saw him or Wesley, there's a good chance I'd kill them. Either that or pass out in front of a bunch of people I don't know… Doesn't that sound fun?

I breath out a sigh of relief, feeling the pain go down a small bit, and surrender myself to the last few minutes of peace I have before I walk straight into hell, and for once in my life, I don't feel weighed down by my life.

"Kore." Someone has their hand on my left shoulder. Where am I again? "Ahh, good girlie. C'mon, wake up Kore, we're at Court." I know that accent, it's Karolina's. I feel pain radiating through my body and I remember it all. The call, the fight, the strigoi, the ass kicking he gave me. Shit, everything hurts a whole damn lot. Owwwwwwww, fuck. Is there a pill for this?

"K, everything hurts." It hurts to talk, but not as much as it did before. I definitely have bruised, and possibly broken, ribs. "Shit, why does my shoulder hurt, K?"

"Oh… Um… you kind of got shot… right in the shoulder, girlie." She usually called me "girlie" because I can't have people, contacts, knowing my real name. She either calls me Kris or girlie. Wait—why is that important? I got freaking shot. I don't think that's ever happened before… wow, interesting.

"Oh. Can we go in and get me—" I stop abruptly, and start coughing. Once I stop, I continue coughing, ignoring Karolina's piercing gaze, telling me to shut up before I kill myself. "Healed… I need to be…"

"Girlie, you need to stand up, can you? It's only a little ways to go. C'mon, trooper." She puts her arm under my good shoulder, and pulls me up into a sitting position. I groan loudly and suck in a breath. Shit, this really hurts. My ribs ache like hell and I feel like someone is smashing a hammer against my chest. Nope, doesn't feel good. _Push through Kore, the pain will be over soon. _I jump out of the car, and almost fall straight on my ass. Good job, you idiot. Jesus, it hurts even more standing up. _Stop whining and suck it up you baby, you've had worse things done to you. _Yeah, I have. I start to walk, blocking out the voice in my head telling me to sit my ass down, and die. I leaned against Karolina's shoulder, trying to walk, or rather hobble, better. As we make our way to a small apartment complex looking building, the walking got easier, less painful. Inside there is an elevator, which I will thank God for every day of my life, that takes us up to the third floor. Karoline stops outside a door with the number sixteen on it. She fumbles with something in her pocket but I hear voices inside.

"Liss, I'm not moving. This girl saved my boyfriends little sister, I'm. Not. Moving." Even through a door, her voice was firm and final. I smile to myself, _well at least someone thinks you're not garbage that should be thrown out to die. _That's actually kind of a first, especially from a Guardian. Shit, Rose Hathaway. The girl Tasha wanted me to kill. I will protect her and her friends with my life because I wouldn't have a life to give anymore if Lissa hadn't agreed to do this. I owe them everything, and at the least, my wasteful life. I will find the Dragomir girl, nut I won't hand her over to anyone other than her sister. And I will protect them all with my life, no matter what.

Karolina finally pulls out her phone and texts someone, I can only assume is her brother.

"You could've knocked, genius." My voice is still low and hoarse. I don't lift my head up to much, but I see her lips curve into a smile.

Footsteps approach the door, and the knob turns. _Here goes nothin', Kore…_

The door opens.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

In the door way a tall, wide-shouldered man stands. He has deep brown eyes and longer brown hair tied behind his head. He says something in Russian then moves forward, picking me up. It hurts, and I let out a small groan while clenching my good fist. He carries me into the deadly quiet room, too quiet, and lays me on a soft, cushiony couch. Can I have this couch please? Karolina is at my side in a heartbeat. I try to open my eyes, but it hurts. Shit, can we get this over with.

"How did this happen, Karolina?" I guess that's Dimitri talking? I'm not checking, that would take work.

"They were following me in Russia—don't you dare cut me off, let me finish. I came here so they wouldn't hurt Vik or mom or even grandmother. They found my hotel room, even though it wasn't in my name, and broke in. I called Kris, and she saved me. Turns out one of them was a strigoi, caught her off guard, and did this to her before she killed him. One of the guys shot her shoulder, too." Silence. You know what? Fuck it…

"I'm going to eat your food next time we're out… bitch." I open one eye, still blocking out the pain, and see a smile light up her beautiful face.

"That is just plain cruel, girlie." I want to laugh, but as soon as my chest moves, I wince.

"Oww… Jesus, anyone mind fixing me up? I think I chipped a nail back there. Or the cracking sound was my bone. Either one, I'd like them fixed." A tall, pale, gorgeous blonde stands up behind Karolina, and walks slowly towards me. She kneels beside Karolina, and reaches for my hand. She looks me in the eye and moves closer.

"I've never healed someone as wounded as you, so I don't know how this will feel, but it shouldn't hurt. Ready?" She smiles warmly at me. I give a slight nod, and smiles again. She closes her eyes, and takes a deep breath. I feel a tingly warmth comes through me, starting at my hand, and spreading all through my body. My eyes snap open and I inhale a huge gulp of air. It doesn't hurt anymore, nothing hurts. My wide eyes turn to look at the blonde, who I now realize is Lissa Dragomir, the Moroi queen. I suddenly feel out of place, unwanted, and a little bit sad. I stare for a few more moments, then realize that I probably look like I'm mentally undressing her. My eyes dart to all the faces around the room. Rose, Dimitri, and five other people. One has sandy-blonde hair and by his stance, he's a Guardian. A brown haired Moroi, another Moroi with black hair; why do they all look like they're going to kill someone? A Moroi girl with black hair, who is staring daggers into the last girls back, she has medium length light brown hair and she's—wait what? Holy fuck… no way, she's a human, and she's tucked into the left side of the brown haired Moroi. Wow, kudos girlfriend. Ok now this is just awkward. I look to Karolina with pleading eyes, begging for her to get me out of here, but she gives me a feigned confused look and turns to her brother. I inwardly groan. This really couldn't get that much worse could it? Yeah, I'm just going to leave now…

"Okay…" I draw out the "ay," trying to make things less awkward. It didn't help. "Thamk you, I mean you kind of saved my life, really, thank you." I smile fondly at Lissa. "If you ever need anything, you'd be surprised what I can do, Karolina has my number." I look at her and sweetly smile, making her lips twitch. I turn my attention back to Lissa. "I mean it, anything. But I need to get back home." I smile again, looking at all of them. I grab my, now bloody coat, and start for the door when something the blonde Guardian stops me dead in my tracks while sending a bad tingle up my spine and throughout my body.

"I wish she could find out who took Jill from Palm Springs…" His voice is laced with pain, fear, and sadness. Palm Springs. The only people who would take her from out there would be Marko and his men. The bastards sell humans, along with the occasional Moroi and dhampir. I've tried catching Marko, it's never worked out. He knows exactly who I am, and I, him. We leave each other alone for the most part. Every time I've tried to catch him, he got away, one time he even killed all the girls he had. I fucking hate not being able to save them all, it makes me sick to my stomach thinking about it. But Moroi, especially the queen's little sister? I can't even imagine what he'd do with her. Did I even hear him right? I slowly turn to face him, knowing my fists are clenched, teeth gritted, eyes narrowed, but my face has lost all color.

"Did you say… Palm Springs? As in California?" _Please, please, please so no. Say she was in Florida or something. Just not Palm Springs… _

"Yeah, it's where we were hiding her." His voice now carried some confusion along with the sadness. As soon as he said that, his eyes got wide, and every head in the room swiveled to him. The bitchy looking raven haired Moroi reprimanded him.

"Nice going Edward…" and I think I heard her say something like, "damn stupid dhampirs." But I don't know. The dhampir, who is apparently named Edward, _no on uses that name miss Bitchy, just call him Eddie, that's what I'll call him, _clenches his jaw, but keeps his mouth shut. I hate that dhampirs are respectful to Moroi like that.

I said I would find the girl, even if it meant buying her for a few million dollars. If money was dirt, I'd be covered in it. I have a little over three hundred fifty million in my work bank account, so yeah, I'm good.

"K, go to my work bank, and liquidate sixty five million dollars. Now." I pull out my personal phone and call Daryon. He's a master with computers, he'll get me any information I want. _Game on, Marko._


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

"Who the hell just has sixty five million dollars just sitting around? A thief?! I bet you staged this so you could steal from us!" Ok, I'm just gonna call this girl Raven, though I have been throwing around some other ideas of things I should call her. Very bad words were winning. This bitch is in-freakin-sane. I mean really? I beat myself to shit, and came here, of all places, to steal stuff? I want to say, "A grade-A, professional, deadly, assassin." But I refrain myself from doing so. _Show at least a little respect, you're acting like a douchebag…_ I kind of am, oops.

"Ok, first of all, that shit hurt. Second, I didn't ask to come here, it is honestly the last place on Earth I want to be. Third I don't steal, I ki—" My words were cut off by Karolina. She's giving me a hard stare. I almost told these people I'm an assassin. That would've been interesting… I take a deep breath and continue, "I have a normal freaking job." Lie. "You do realize I have no idea who'd buy stuff like this." Lie. "I live a normal life," Lie. "and stealing a crown or necklace isn't going to do anything good for me." Lies, lies, lies, all lies. I could probably make a few hundred million with the queens crown.

She narrows her eyes at me. "Her aura is full of lies." Karolina bites her lip to stop herself from laughing. _Shiiiiiit, this isn't good. _

Suddenly, an older looking man with dark brown hair and equally dark brown eyes, walks in the room. He doesn't even realize I'm here before he starts talking.

"I found an assassin, but she doesn't just kill, she steals, tortures, and rescues people. She actually has amazing morals about who she does these things to. Only kills people who beyond deserve, steals major relics, but still for good causes. Tortures people who don't deserve a bullet right between their eyes." He finally notices me and Karolina. My clothes are blood soaked and ripped. At least Karolina cleaned the blood off of my face. His eyes narrow a bit and he looks at Rose. "Who are they?"

"Karolina," she nods to her, "is Dimitri's little sister, and this is her best friend…" She looks at me with confusion. None of these people know my name, Karolina would never tell them anyway. Before I can even think of a name, the older man talks again.

"Oh, ok. Well, anyways, she finds people who have never even existed. She's the best in the business. We get her, she finds Jill," Oh right Jill, Jesus I'm an ass. "brings her back. We can even have her protect her before we take Jill home." Eddie looks like he's going to explode with happiness. It's freaking adorable.

"What's her name?" He's practically bouncing on his toes.

"Took me a while to find it, she never gives it out. Well, I didn't get her last name but her first and middle name are pretty unique." Hah, I can't wait to see what idiot he found to find her. If I can't find her, no one can. "Her name's Kore Iris." Oh fuck. I'm the idiot he found. This day just keeps getting better and better. Karolina full on laughs, but slaps her hand over her mouth to keep the laughter from escaping. Everyone looks at her, she now has wide eyes, but I can tell she wants to laugh again. This is mortifying. My eyes are wide and I have to shut my mouth before it falls to the ground. I shoot a warning glare at Karolina. _Karolina Belikov, don't you dare. _She looks away from me and takes her hand off of her mouth. "It's nothing, really, I met a kindergartener with that name last year. I'm just really lame, sorry." She's still biting her lip, though.

"Well I'm contacting her." _Like you have my work number_. He takes out his phone and dials a number, and in that second, something in Karolina's back pocket lights up. Holy. Fucking. Shit. The sound is off… I hope. She moves so you can't see it. After a minute of silence, he takes the phone away from his ear and dials again. This time, my personal phone lights up in Karolina's pocket, but the damned sound is on. This is bad. Everyone eyes turn towards Karolina, and that bitchy Raven girl starts calling for magic. In the second the dhampir in me takes action. _She's going to hurt Karolina. I'll kill her before she touches her._ A bright light suddenly appears and heads straight for Karolina. Shit, Karolina stood up, so she's even more exposed to getting hurt. I lunge for Karolina, taking her to the ground and shielding her with my body. I hear a piercing scream beside me, and look up. Lissa is frozen in place, screaming, Rose in on the other side of the room trying to get to Lissa, but something's wrong. She's being held back by a ward. They all are. I jump up and grab Lissa, when a pain erupts in my shoulder, I cry out. Fuck, it hurts. I throw Lissa down, I pushed her too hard. I drop down before she hits the ground. She lands on me and I roll over, shielding her body from the magic. The pain only spreads from my shoulder, shaking my whole body. I scream, then the pain is gone. It's all gone. I lift my head up, seeing the room torn apart. Good fucking job, bitch. I've been known to have anger issues, and I've been mad this day more than I ever have before. Well, not really, but in a day? Yes. I move up from Lissa, checking her for bruises and bleeding. Her eyebrow is cut and bleeding.

That ignites a white, hot, rage that I've kept pent up my whole life. I jump up, and look Karolina, she's ok, thank God, and when she opens her eyes and sees my burning ones, she knows I'm going to hurt that girl. I tastes blood in my mouth and feel a sticky hotness trailing down the side of my face. I slowly turn my eyes up to look at everyone else in the room. I want to girl that girl for trying to hurt my best friend. My eyes are burning, even more anger, building up inside of me. I look back at Lissa. She has tears in her eyes, and her eyebrow is still bleeding. Sadness and shame fills me up. I'm never good enough. It's always my fault when someone gets hurt.

My father didn't want me, he didn't love or care for me. My mother turned herself strigoi, and tried to turn me when I was sixteen. I'm looked down upon by all Guardians, Moroi, and dhampirs for leaving the Academy because I was weak, because I couldn't take the pain. I was, am, weak. I'll never be good enough for anyone. I was never allowed to feel emotion, so I don't. I don't deserve people like Karolina or Daryon. I deserved to be killed by that strigoi, I never deserved to be healed by someone as good as Lissa. I deserved the pain, the suffering, all the bad and hurt. Never in my life would I deserve something good. I let my best friend get killed. It was all my fault. Just like making my mother turn herself strigoi was all my fault. Maybe if I hadn't been in the picture, she could've been with my father. But I screwed that up too. I look back at Karolina. She has fear and concern in her eyes. I put that fear in her eyes. I look up and the girl who tried to hurt both of those girls. My eyes still yield enough fire to fill up hell. I will kill her. I will slowly kill her, making sure she knows the definition of pain. But I don't even deserve to kill her. I don't deserve to protect Karolina, let alone anyone as good-hearted as her, or Lissa. I want, so bad, to slaughter her, hurt her in so many ways. But I can't. I'm not good enough. Even though she is a heartless bitch, she's better than me. They all look scared, my fists are clenched, so are my teeth. So, even though I still want her dead, I dropped to my knees by Karolina, looking at her with pleading eyes. She sits up, and holds me tight while I let the tears fall, not caring who sees.


	8. Chapter 8

p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"strongChapter Eight/strong/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"Karolina is my safe house. So is Daryon, but he's not here, and he doesn't understand the feeling of being unworthy. Karolina never trained, our people look down on that. I don't want to let her go. Please, don't make me let her go. I wrap my arms tightly around her. The tears have stopped, but the pain is still there. Karolina pulls back and looks at me, searching my eyes for an emotion. She won't find any, it's easier not showing them. She looks at my face and purses her lips together when she sees my new cuts. She stands me up and puts me behind her, leading me out the door. As soon as we reach the door, she turns around and stares at. I give her a confused look until she inclines her head towards the man who wanted to hire me. Anger takes my features over again. Marko is a sick bastard, and I'm not letting that girl endure anything more if I can stop it. I look him dead in the eye, look back to Karolina and nod. I back up to the door and Karolina turns to the man. "Kore will help you find her." And with that, she turns and we walk out of the room together.p  
>p class="MsoNormal"I shut the driver side door, and take a deep breath. "K… I would've killed her, you know? I don't know why she did that but… I just—I don't know." I rest my head on the steering wheel and feel a new round of tears coming on. emWhen was the last time I cried this much?em I never cry, emphasis on never./p  
>p class="MsoNormal""I know, girlie. Look, you go back home to Daryon, and I'll go back in there to tell that bitch, Nina, off. God, I never liked her… She always looked like she wanted to fucking eat Dimitri." Even when I'm having one of the worst days of my life, she can make me laugh. "Anyways, well… Can I stay with you while I'm here? It'll only be—"p  
>p class="MsoNormal""K, of course you can," I interrupt her. I mean she's my best friend being hunted by a bunch of dicks. "You are always welcome in my house, no matter what. I love you, K" I lift my head up and look her in the eye. She smiles fondly at me, and I smile back at her and nod towards her door. "Now get your ass out of my car." She laughs and jumps out of the car, while calling over shoulder, "I'll call you tomorrow, babes! Love you!" I smile and pull off of the curb, heading for the gate.p  
>p class="MsoNormal"I pull in front of Daryon's apartment, letting myself in with my key.p  
>p class="MsoNormal""Dar? You here? It's me, Kore. I'm coming up, so put on some pants!" I jog up the stairs. It's not like it's weird for him to not be home on a Thursday, but I assumed he'd be here. I toss my keys on the kitchen counter before searching his apartment. He's not in any of his rooms. I check his bedroom, finding his phone and car keys. Okay, now it's weird. Daryon has lived in the city his whole life, he knows to never leave without your phone. emGreat, because this day needs one more problem. em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal""C'mon Daryon, where the hell are you?" And now I'm talking to myself, great. Well, where could he have gone? If he drove anywhere, he'd obviously need his keys, so… okay, this is confusing. I look down at my clothes, still soaked with my dried blood. I walk to his closet, pulling out jeans, a t-shirt, jacket, and boots. I keep clothes here if something happens and I can't get anything out of my house. When I pull my shirt off, I see all the blood on my body. Shit, now I need a shower. In the shower, I scrub harder than necessary, trying to rid my body of this whole day. I get out, towel dry my hair and pull it up into a ponytail.p  
>p class="MsoNormal"I grab my phone and dial Karolina. She immediately picks up.p  
>p class="MsoNormal""Hey, you ok, girlie?" Her concern makes me smile.p  
>p class="MsoNormal""Yeah, I was just wondering if you've heard from Daryon?" I grab my lip between my teeth and chew on it, bad habit, I know.p  
>p class="MsoNormal""Um, yeah like five minutes ago. Why?" Relief floods through me. emWhy were you so worried? em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal""Okay, good. He isn't here and I was a little worried." emMore like a lot dummy. em"So how are things at Court?" I just want to forget this day, but I need to know she's okay./p  
>p class="MsoNormal""Eh, you know, the usual problems. Dimitri is going to wring me out for not telling him anything, but other than that, we're good."p  
>p class="MsoNormal""So, you're okay?" I don't know what possessed that girl to try to kill Karolina, but she could've killed Lissa in the process. It was very freakin' stupid.p  
>p class="MsoNormal""Yes, Kore." She drawls out the 'yes' to make her point. "I'm fine. You saved me from certain death twice today. Hmm… There should be a gift card prize for that." She says that perfectly serious, and I start to laugh.p  
>p class="MsoNormal""A gift card prize? As long as it gets me some free food, I'm all in." I smile and walk back to Daryon's room, making sure I have everything before I leave.p  
>p class="MsoNormal""I'll make sure you get food, girlie. Anyways, what did Daryons' text say? Oh yeah, where are you gong for the weekend?" Her question puzzles me, but then I remember that Daryons' phone is on his nightstand, and he doesn't have another phone. Uh oh…p  
>p class="MsoNormal""Um, K, when did he send you that?" I've been here for almost an hour, no one was here.p  
>p class="MsoNormal""Let me check." There's a short pause on the other end when she's looking for the text. "Okay, he texted like twenty minutes ago." emThat can't be good… Don't let her know something is wrong.em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal""Oh, ok. Well I have to go. Talk to you later." I hang up as quickly as I can. emReally? Someone else is going to beat the holy ever living fuck out of me? God. Again? I fucking hate Thursdays. em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"I turn around, looking for someone, but there is no one.p  
>p class="MsoNormal"Suddenly, I'm thrown against the wallem. Oh my god, again? Seriously, just leave me alone, and kill me tomorrow.em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"A sharp pain erupts in my stomach. emWould you stop if I gave you food? emAnother kick of pain. emI'm going to take that as a no. Great… /em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"A body curves around mine from behind me and lays a hand flat on my stomach. I hear breathing in my ear, but that's it. The person removes their hand and when I look back down, there's a knife to my stomach. As quickly as it's there, it's gone. Disappeared. Right into my stomach. Wow, that really hurts. Holy hot damn, it really fucking hurts. The last thing I saw was a tall blonde guy walking out of Daryon's apartment. After that; darkness.p 


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

_My cheeks are tear stained and my wrists hurt from the chains. Why is Mom doing this to me? She doesn't love me. My best friend, Annett Jesson, lays lifelessly on the other side of the room. I could've saved her… right? Mom killed her, she used her to turn strigoi. I'm only sixteen, why is this happening? Annett was twenty three year old Moroi. She was my cousin, a lot older than me, but my best friend, none the less. I was supposed to protect her with my life. Look how good I am at doing that… No one knew about her son, Kai Ryker Jesson, but me. She had him when she was only thirteen, she was drugged, but they couldn't prove it, so she gave up trying to tell them she was raped. He's a dhampir, his father knows about him, and signed papers saying he gave up all rights to his beautiful, amazing son. What will happen to him if I die, too? I can't let that happen, I will have to kill her to save Kai, and I will._

I wake up with a gasp. I hate having dreams about that week, the worst week of my life.

Kai.

He knows his mother was killed by a strigoi, he is now sixteen, almost seventeen. Sweetest kid you'll ever know, but he kicks major ass, just like his momma. Shit, I miss her. She was so much older than me, but she was my second half, we were always together. When Annett died, I took full guardianship of Kai. He was ten and I was sixteen, how was I supposed to take care of him? We managed, barely, but we did. I had him keep going to St. Vladamir's Academy, kept him training, but I see him all the time. He is my best friend and the weirdest person ever, but I love him to pieces.

Wait, fuck. I got stabbed… right? I lift up the covers and look down. Nope, not stabbed. Huh… that's kind of weird, but whatever. Probably just some weird ass dream I had. I want to go see Kai soon.

As if on cue, my phone vibrates. Grabbing off of the nightstand, I see Kai's name flash across the screen. I answer immediately.

"Look kid, I pay five bucks for somethin' soft, ten for the good stuff." It's so inappropriate, but we're like that. I mean, we're only like six years apart.

"Hmmm, you take cash?" I hear the humor in his voice.

"Dipshit, yeah, just send it through the phone."

"Twitchy palms? Paging Christian Grey…" That made almost no sense, but I'm struggling to keep a straight face.

"Okay, I know Kai loves him some Fifty Shades, but not now dude." I'm groaning for him to stop, but it's hilarious.

'Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Anyways a few of us were selected to go to Court and train with famous Guardians, but I need your permission. Can I please go, Kore?" He drawls out the please. He is adorable.

"Hmmm, maybe." I just want to hear him say that again.

"Please Aunt Kris? I promise I'll be good." He drawls it out again and I'm a goner.

"Ugh, okay, yes, fine, you can go, Ka, but listen to me. I'm going to be at Court for a while, so for however long you're going, be. Good. Got it?" I use my stern mother voice, making sure he listens to me. He audibly swallows and answers me.

"Yes ma'am. I promise, I'll be on my best behavior. On the weekdays." I slap my hand to my forehead.

"No, dumbass, you'll be good even on the weekend…" He doesn't answer. "Ok, fine. You don't have to be good on Saturdays, but just Saturday, got it?" I can just imagine his pouty face changing to a bright smile.

"Yes ma'am. So, why will you be there?" His voice sounds generally interested, like always.

"Just some work for the queen and Guardians. Nothing much, don't worry Dark One, I'll be okay. Oh, and I will smack you and ground you if you aren't good when you're there. Okay?"

"Mmm, will you spank me?"

"Yes, I will, but it would be with a damn chair. You won't be able to sit down for weeks, so be good."

"Yes ma'am. I love you." I smile.

"Love you, too, baby." He groans and mumbles something then hangs up.

I look at my phone and have a text from Karolina. After I read it, I'm in a bad mood.

_You need to be at Court tomorrow. Give Kai my love. Love you._

Kai adores Karolina, and she, him. He's always thought of her as another aunt.

I look back at my phone. It's five in the damn morning. Ugh, I am _not _a morning person. But I have crap to do. I swing my legs out of the bed and walk to my closet. I pack a bag with clothes, my phone charger, and my work phone. I kneel on the floor and grab the huge, locked box under it. I pull it in front of me and take of my necklace, which holds the key.

I unlock the box, and open it. My babies. God, I love guns. I grab a few guns and pack them in a bag.

I also pack my laptops, and another small, locked box I keep in the back of my closet. I shower and dry my hair. Ok, Court. This really won't be fun… I change my clothes, grab my keys, and I'm out the door, heading straight towards Court.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

If Kai doesn't get here soon, I'm going to find him, and drag him back here. I hate Court, but I'm here early so I can see him. Well I wanted to. Damn him.

I walk back inside the small room with the same people, and more, who I saw when Lissa healed me. I can't really remember them all… Oops. I go up to the map. Ok, work time. Marko would never bring a royal Moroi, especially the queen's little sister, near Court, and he would avoid most areas with academies. Basically, it cancels out the whole Eastern area, and I am one hundred percent sure about that. I grab a marker and put an 'x' over the whole Eastern area.

"Why is that there?" Said the Guardian, who I now know is Eddie. He definitely has some kind of feelings for Jillian.

"It's way too close to Court for any criminal who wants to kidnap the queen's little sister." I'm about to say something when I'm interrupted by that girl, Nina.

"Half sister, actually." Wow, what a bitch. I slowly turn around, my eyes wide and my mouth pulling into a humorless smile. I just stare at her for a minute and then talk.

"Say that again, and I'll kill you right where you're standing." My voice is low and completely serious. She walks toward me and looks me dead in the eye, her voice sweet and convincing.

"You will never touch me, now get back to work." Ohh, she's trying to use compulsion on me. Nice try Bitchy, I have a necklace that wards off all magic from me, even spirit.

I back up to a desk, and hop up onto it, crossing my legs and looking her in the eye.

"Do that again, see if it works. I'll just sit here until it finally works." I smile and put my elbows on my thighs, leaning my head on them. She glares at me and tries again.

"Get down, and work." Her voice is more determined. I don't move, just stare back at her. She tries again.

"Get. Down. Now." Her voice is harder now. I look at her, not amused. I roll my eyes and fake a yawn. She's pissed at me now.

"How the hell are you doing that?" She growled at me.

I pull out my mothers' necklace from behind my shirt, and hold it up to her.

"This. It wards off any kind of magic, making me, in a way, immune to it. None of you," I incline my head towards everyone else, "can hurt me with magic. Well, unless you get this necklace off, and I wouldn't let anyone get close enough to even touch it." I smile and jump off the table. I stand in front of the board again. No one is talking, and the silence is kind of weird. "Jesus, just talk, the silence is annoying." After a minute people start talking again. I really want to see Kai, but he probably isn't here yet. I miss him.

"Okay, there is a chance she's still in California, but it's not too likely." I stroke my lip with fingers, thinking of where I last saw Marko. I was doing a job in Nevada, and we both tried to kill each other. Normal stuff. But that was over seven months ago, he would be stupid to still be there.

A door opens on the other side of the room, but I don't pay attention to who comes through, I'm too fixated on the map. Maybe she's in—

I'm lifted off my feet and a familiar male, woodsy smell, that I'd know anywhere, surrounds me.

Kai.

I immediately put my arms around his neck and put my face in his neck. He swings me around and kisses my cheek with a loud 'mwah' then puts me down. I kiss his cheek and look up at his face. He's smiling, making the corner of his eyes crinkle and his dimples show. He has a cut on his eyebrow that makes me frown but he scoffs and rolls his eyes.

Kai wasn't much of a looker when he was younger, but now? His shoulders are broad and his arms toned to perfection. His chiseled jaw has a five o'clock shadow and his stares down at me with the same grey eyes with green flecks that I have. His messy hair is a dark brown that looks a lot like black most days, just like his mothers. His body, like every dhampirs, is toned and tanned. I drop my hands to rest on his narrow hips. If I was fifteen, I'd fall in love with him by just looking at him. I smile up at him, it's so amazing to see Annett's son all grown up, but sad too. I notice his best friends behind him, all smiling at me. They're all like family, Jacob, Ethan, Noah, and Aiden. Their mothers never visit them, so whenever they all need a house, it's mine. Jacob, Noah, and Kai have been friends since kindergarten, Ethan and Aiden became their friends in third grade, they've been inseparable since.

"Hi, Ms. Jesson!" They all say at the same time. My mothers, and Annett's, last name is Jesson. Even though she gave me my father's last name, my real last name is Jesson. Karolina and Daryon are the only ones who know my legal last name, I tell everyone else it's Jesson.

I smile at the boys and call back, "Hey, boys. You do know I'll be watching you for however long you'll be here, right?" I give them all m be watching you for however long you'll be here, right?" I give them all m stern, motherly voice and give them a hard look. They all give me mock salutes and talk in unison, again.

"We know Ms. Jesson. We'll be good." I give them another hard look before smiling and turning my attention back to Kai.

"Same goes for you, pal." Another stern look towards him. He rolls his eyes.

"Yes, I know Koreky," I hate that, and I will murder you Kai, "we'll all be good."

"Yeah besides, we don't want you to kick our asses." Yells Noah.

"Hey! Language, kid. Say that again, and I'll slap you." His eyes widen and the other boys laugh.

"Can I say ass?" Kai says, and I slap the back of his head, causing the boys to laugh harder.

"No. Kai Ryker Jesson, if I see you do one thing out of line, your ass is grass. Got me?" He nods, kisses my cheek and turns to walk away. When the boys start to walk away, they all yell back before they leave.

"Love you, Ms. Jesson!" I smile and turn back to the board, when someone taps on my shoulder.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

Kai is standing there with his big puppy dog eyes and pouty face, that I can't resist.

"ugh, what do you want Kai?" He pouts his lips more and puts out his hand. It takes me a second, but I get it.

"God… You will be the death of me baby boy…" I reach back and pull out my wallet. I pull out my personal credit card and hand it over. He grabs it but I hold on. "No more than five hundred, okay?" His eyes go wide and his smile broadens, and brightens.

"Yes, ma'am, I promise." His bends down and kisses my cheek. I kiss his back.

"I love you, baby boy." He smiles again, and returns my 'I love you.'

_After Kai is gone, I turn back to the board, only to turn back around when Rose talks._

_"__You know all those boys? Kai can't be your son, can he?" Confusion masks her face, and almost everyone else__'__s._

_"__I'm Kai's legal guardian. His mother, my cousin and best friend, was killed, and I was the only one left to take care of him, even when I was sixteen. I was the only family that knew, and wanted him. I've known him since he was a baby. The boys were always with him, and I'm the only parental figure they've really known." I smile and turn back around. _

_"__Wait, so Kai is your nephew?" Rose still sounds confused._

_"__Yes, he is. My cousin really wasn't the best mother, but she still loved him." I falter for a moment at the thought of Annett, but quickly recover. _

_"__Oh, okay." She doesn't sound so confused anymore._

_"__Do you think they would try to turn Jill?" questions a Moroi, whose name is, I think, Adrian. I turn back around._

_"__No way, if they were going to turn someone strigoi, it's always dhampirs. They know how to fight and they would never waste a Moroi like that. It's how the bastards work." Strigoi don't ever turn Moroi, but Moroi still turn on their own. It's pathetic, really. "It's probably not even strigoi. They would've grabbed the dhampirs, too. Or at least tried to, anyways." I think for a moment and something hits me. "It could've been a Moroi." All heads turn to me at that point._

_"__Well, think about it. We have all our kidnapping candidates, there's strigoi, who would've taken her Guardians, and then we have the Alchemists, who don't want to be on the same damn planet as you. It's actually very amusing watching them interact with Moroi and dhmpirs. Wait, never mind. Anyways, what's left? Oh! Right, then there's the Warriors, which I wouldn't mind slapping every one of them, and they have no reason to hurt Jill, unless she was strigoi. Who's left? Dhampirs and Moroi." I turn back to them and cross my arms. "It could be one of you guys." I lean back on the wall._

_"__There's no way one of us did it. Why should we trust blood whore—"_

_"__I can still kill you," I say, looking her dead in the eyes._

_"__I'm a Moroi, you can't do anything to me," she states in a very cocky, bitchy way._

_I roll my eyes and push off the wall. "Listen, I'm helping you guys, you're not helping me. I don't need to do this so, say one more thing." I'm still looking Nina in the eye._

_"__It's not like we need y—" I don't need to hear anymore. I'm not going to help them, don't need to. I'll find her on my own time and bring her back. _

_"__Okay," is the only thing I say before I start walking away. I hear muffled shouts from behind me, but I don't really care. I hear the door behind me open._

_"__Wait, I'm sorry." It's Nina._

_"__I don't exactly give a fuck," I call behind my shoulder as I step outside._

_Footsteps approach me from behind._

_"__Can you wait up, please?" Now, it's Rose. I stop and turn around. The man, who Karolina told me is her father, stands behind her._

_"__Yes?" I really don't want to hear this._

_"__Please, Nina can be a bitch, but please help us. We never thought of the things you told us." She's actually pleading me. I think. _

_"__I noticed," I mutter under my breath, but the older man catches it and chuckles. Rose shoots him a look and he quickly stops._

_"__She doesn't have to even be in the same room you are in. Just, please, help us find Jill?" Her eyes are so desperate, and from what I've heard, Rose is never desperate. It breaks me. I blow out a breath._

_"__Yeah, okay. I'll do it, but, she pisses me off again? I'm gone." Rose nods enthusiastically. Just then, a redhead woman walks out and hugs Rose. __Hmm, who's she? __My thoughts and world freeze when she speaks._

_"__The great Abe Mazur returns." __Mazur.__My heart beats faster and I start to sweat. __Just ask him._

_"__Mazur? Did you ever spend time in Greece?" My mother moved to the U.S. before I was born, but she was Greek. He looks at me, puzzled. "My aunt knew a guy with your last name about twenty-three years ago." He nods and asks what my Aunts name is. __Was__, I comment in my mind. "Her name was Khloe Jesson." He smiles, my world shatters. _

_"__Yes, I knew Khloe," then he walks away._

_I just met my father. Wait—__holy fucking hell.__I met my half-sister, too. __Well shit…_


	12. Chapter 12

p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"emstrongspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"Chapter Twelve/span/strong/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;" I stand in the same spot for about a minute. What the fuck just happened? I'm ninety nine percent sure I just met my father. Uh oh.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"I walk back into the room and discretely give Nina the finger. Well, actually, Adrian and Dimitri saw it, and I think they laughed.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"I remember my talk with Tasha yesterday, and even though I don't get involved with all of this, they need to know.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;""So, question. Are you planning on letting Tasha run free and kill Rose, or is anyone going to catch her? Because, I'm all in for seeing some action happen around here." I smile and see almost every jaw drop open.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;""How did you know about that?" hisses Nina. I'm going to slap her. I slowly turn my head to her and give a bored look.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;""Oh, you know, she came to me and asked me to kill Rose. The usual I guess." I fake a yawn and smile at Nina.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;""So, you're going to kill Rose?" And that's it. I'm going to hurt her. I punch her right in the face and lean back up against the wall as she falls to the floor. Someone starts laughing and I continue talking.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;""No, shit-for-brains, I'm not. And by the way, I'll do worse if you don't keep your damn mouth shut—"span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;""You could've broken my nose, bitch!"span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"I smile down at her. "Then heal yourself dipshit. Anyways," I look back up. "I can make sure Tasha's watched and monitor her phone calls, who she contacts, where she goes, stuff like that, to make sure she's far from any of you." They all exchange looks. They probably don't want my help, but they'll need it. "Your choice." I note that Nina is cleaning blood off of her nose, but she healed it. She glares at me and I smile. I see Lissa yawn from the corner of my eye. I look out of a window and see it's shining outside. She must be exhausted. With their time schedule, it's almost midnight.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;""You guys need to get some rest. I'll work for a little longer and then get some sleep." None of them move, so I roll my eyes. "Go, go, go. Now." I motion them all out and they all out the door. I sink onto the floor. The depression from my dead bond is going strong tonight, I don't know why. Maybe it's because you got beaten to shit by a strigoi, just like when you were sixteen. That's probably it. Being shadow-kissed, I can see ghosts, and I know Annett is one. She never moved on. Never got over being forcefully turned. I look around, trying to find her, but she isn't here. No one is, which is kind of weird.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"Bang, bang, bang. My eyes go wide and my body freezes. Gunshots. Why the fuck were there guns going off? Hey, Sherlock, there shouldn't be guns going off. Something's wrong. Shit, something is wrong. I tentatively stand up and listen for more shots to go off I open a door and hear someone muttering something, harsh whispers coming from two different voices. A guys and a woman's. The whispering stops abruptly and I do too. Who the hell is here?span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"You have to protect the queen and every one of her friends, someone hisses in my ear. I grind my teeth. I turn my head and see Annett standing beside me. Annett as a Moroi, nicest person you'll ever meet. Annett as a ghost, makes you wish she was alive so you could kick her face in.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"Fuck off, Annett, I order her. She just smiles and I get pissed the hell off, even more than I already was.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"I hear movement to my left, then to my right.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"Left.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"Right.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"Left.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"Right.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"What. The. Fuck. Is. Happening. The movement on my right again causes me to turn, facing my right.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"That's when I feel it. Nauseous. I'm nauseous; too nauseous. Oh, shit.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"Strigoi nauseous.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"Something hard hits the back of my head, making pain ignite throughout my whole body. I fall to the ground and struggle to get up, only to collapse again. Something pushes all the air out of my lungs and keeps anymore from entering them.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;""You can't always win," growls a woman's voice right behind me. It's familiar, but I can't place it. That voice is the last thing I hear before darkness.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;" span/em/p 


	13. Chapter 13

_**Chapter Fourteen**_

_Jill tries to move around me but I hold her back._

_"__What are they going to do to you?" My voice is low and menacingly soft. Shit, don't scare yourself. I feel Jill shudder behind me. The two men don't move, Jesus, really?_

_"__Nothing… they just take some of my blood," Jill says in a slightly shaking voice. Something in my brain clicks._

_"__Do they ever give you blood?" Her silence is my answer. _

_"__Let her go. Your kind isn't worth anything, so don't act like it is." Our kind? Non-assholes you mean._

_"__It's fine, they'll hurt you if you don't let me move. I promise they don't do anything bad," Jill murmurs into my ear. I think for a minute and then, reluctantly, let her go. Jill stands up and walks toward the two men._

_Suddenly, the two men move and another man moves in front of Jill, grabs her by the nape of her neck, and shoves her against the wall. I'm up on me feet and lunging at the man at the blink of an eye, but the other two see me and hold me back. It is almost pitch black in this room, and though my eyes have adjusted to the darkness, the bright light from outside the door blinds me. I feel a swift hit to my ribs, pushing all the air from my lungs and takes me down. They deliver another kick to my stomach and walk away. The hard blows leave me coughing and clutching my stomach._

_"__Always so brave, Miss Mazur," mocks a deep voice from above me. A voice I know; that I've tried to kill and who has tried to kill me. Ohhhhh, I am going to fucking slaughter you…_

_"__Fuck off, Marko," I somehow push out through gritted teeth. He laughs lightly and gives me another kick to the ribs, pushing all the air I managed to take in, right out again. I try to take in breath but end up coughing._

_"__You always were a fighter, weren't you, Kore?" I look up at him and give him a smile. I still can't make out his face, but unless he has a twin brother, it's him; Marko. "Don't worry your pretty little head, we won't hurt her." He laughs again. "Much…" I growl at him as he walks away._

_I pull myself up, ignoring the pain coursing through my body. I lean on the wall right next to the door and take in the room I'm in. It's dark, and my eyes haven't adjusted back to the darkness, but I can still see. The floor is smooth and cold, though the walls are stone and makes the room look like a cave. The rest of the room is bare, but, on the ceiling, there is something that looks close to a light. How many other people are here? Are there other people here? Jesus… I'm tired._

_I'm going to kill Marko and everyone here. I need to find out what they're doing and get Jill out of here… and…_

_Slam. I wake with a jump. I look over towards the door and see Jill lying on the ground. I race to her side and flip her onto her back. Her eyes are closed and she has—Woah, what the hell… Why does she have bite marks? She shouldn't, but she does. Two small wounds and deep purple and blue bruises mar her neck. Her skin is paler than usual. _

_"__Shit," I mutter under my breath. What are they doing to you, Jillian? Scratch that, who is doing this to you? _

_I put my arms under her and left her with ease. I move to the corner of the room and lay her down, resting her upper body on my lap. This girl is family, my half-sisters, best friends, younger sister, and no matter what, that counts as family to me._

_"__Ti porto a casa, dolce sorella." I'll bring you home, sweet sister. My mother always soothed me with Italian, and I love the language. To me, it is calming. What in god's name could they be using her blood for? Tattoos? Like the Alchemists? Wait… the one guy did say 'your kind.' Maybe they are Alchemists. Oh, god. They are completely annoying and I hate them._

_Jill isn't getting blood, you have to give her some, someone hisses. My head snaps up and Annett is standing there. Oh yay. Fun. This should be interesting… _

_Go away, Annett, I hiss right back. She rolls her eyes and scoffs. She can't actually talk out loud, but I hear her words in my head. Wait, shit, that sounds like I'm insane. Oh well. I can reply to her in my head, because any other way, I look overly insane._

_Oh, shut up, Kore. She needs blood and who is going to give it to her, other than you. You know that, she says. Damnit, she's right. Does it hurt...? All feeders get a high, so I assume it would be the same thing… right? It would just be taking care of her, nothing more._

_I sit holding Jill for a long time when she finally wakes up. She stirs and blinks up at me. Her eyes stay on mine for a beat, then wander around the room. She starts to move herself upwards, but groans, and leans back against my chest.  
>"Why do I feel so light-headed?" she mutters sleepily. <em>

_"__Who bites you, Jill?" As soon as the words leave my mouth, Jill tenses._

_"__Bites?" she asks. I groan and make her face me. Her eyes are wide with fear._

_"__Yes, Jill. Who bites you?" I ask again, looking her in the eye. I stay silent while she averts her eyes and fights an inner battle with herself. _

_Finally, she looks back to my eyes, and her voice is only a whisper._

_"__The strigoi."_


	14. Chapter 14

_**Chapter Fourteen**_

_Jill tries to move around me but I hold her back._

_"__What are they going to do to you?" My voice is low and menacingly soft. Shit, don't scare yourself. I feel Jill shudder behind me. The two men don't move, Jesus, really?_

_"__Nothing… they just take some of my blood," Jill says in a slightly shaking voice. Something in my brain clicks._

_"__Do they ever give you blood?" Her silence is my answer. _

_"__Let her go. Your kind isn't worth anything, so don't act like it is." Our kind? Non-assholes you mean._

_"__It's fine, they'll hurt you if you don't let me move. I promise they don't do anything bad," Jill murmurs into my ear. I think for a minute and then, reluctantly, let her go. Jill stands up and walks toward the two men._

_Suddenly, the two men move and another man moves in front of Jill, grabs her by the nape of her neck, and shoves her against the wall. I'm up on me feet and lunging at the man at the blink of an eye, but the other two see me and hold me back. It is almost pitch black in this room, and though my eyes have adjusted to the darkness, the bright light from outside the door blinds me. I feel a swift hit to my ribs, pushing all the air from my lungs and takes me down. They deliver another kick to my stomach and walk away. The hard blows leave me coughing and clutching my stomach._

_"__Always so brave, Miss Mazur," mocks a deep voice from above me. A voice I know; that I've tried to kill and who has tried to kill me. Ohhhhh, I am going to fucking slaughter you…_

_"__Fuck off, Marko," I somehow push out through gritted teeth. He laughs lightly and gives me another kick to the ribs, pushing all the air I managed to take in, right out again. I try to take in breath but end up coughing._

_"__You always were a fighter, weren't you, Kore?" I look up at him and give him a smile. I still can't make out his face, but unless he has a twin brother, it's him; Marko. "Don't worry your pretty little head, we won't hurt her." He laughs again. "Much…" I growl at him as he walks away._

_I pull myself up, ignoring the pain coursing through my body. I lean on the wall right next to the door and take in the room I'm in. It's dark, and my eyes haven't adjusted back to the darkness, but I can still see. The floor is smooth and cold, though the walls are stone and makes the room look like a cave. The rest of the room is bare, but, on the ceiling, there is something that looks close to a light. How many other people are here? Are there other people here? Jesus… I'm tired._

_I'm going to kill Marko and everyone here. I need to find out what they're doing and get Jill out of here… and…_

_Slam. I wake with a jump. I look over towards the door and see Jill lying on the ground. I race to her side and flip her onto her back. Her eyes are closed and she has—Woah, what the hell… Why does she have bite marks? She shouldn't, but she does. Two small wounds and deep purple and blue bruises mar her neck. Her skin is paler than usual. _

_"__Shit," I mutter under my breath. What are they doing to you, Jillian? Scratch that, who is doing this to you? _

_I put my arms under her and left her with ease. I move to the corner of the room and lay her down, resting her upper body on my lap. This girl is family, my half-sisters, best friends, younger sister, and no matter what, that counts as family to me._

_"__Ti porto a casa, dolce sorella." I'll bring you home, sweet sister. My mother always soothed me with Italian, and I love the language. To me, it is calming. What in god's name could they be using her blood for? Tattoos? Like the Alchemists? Wait… the one guy did say 'your kind.' Maybe they are Alchemists. Oh, god. They are completely annoying and I hate them._

_Jill isn't getting blood, you have to give her some, someone hisses. My head snaps up and Annett is standing there. Oh yay. Fun. This should be interesting… _

_Go away, Annett, I hiss right back. She rolls her eyes and scoffs. She can't actually talk out loud, but I hear her words in my head. Wait, shit, that sounds like I'm insane. Oh well. I can reply to her in my head, because any other way, I look overly insane._

_Oh, shut up, Kore. She needs blood and who is going to give it to her, other than you. You know that, she says. Damnit, she's right. Does it hurt...? All feeders get a high, so I assume it would be the same thing… right? It would just be taking care of her, nothing more._

_I sit holding Jill for a long time when she finally wakes up. She stirs and blinks up at me. Her eyes stay on mine for a beat, then wander around the room. She starts to move herself upwards, but groans, and leans back against my chest.  
>"Why do I feel so light-headed?" she mutters sleepily. <em>

_"__Who bites you, Jill?" As soon as the words leave my mouth, Jill tenses._

_"__Bites?" she asks. I groan and make her face me. Her eyes are wide with fear._

_"__Yes, Jill. Who bites you?" I ask again, looking her in the eye. I stay silent while she averts her eyes and fights an inner battle with herself. _

_Finally, she looks back to my eyes, and her voice is only a whisper._

_"__The strigoi."_


	15. Chapter 15

_**Chapter Fifteen**_

_"__The stigoi?" There are strigoi here?" Why would Marko, or anyone, work with strigoi? Aside from the obvious, they're really annoying. She slowly nods, her eyes darting away from mine. "But they've never gone too far with feeding?" I see her eyes widen as she shakes her head, but I can just tell that she isn't lying. __Well, genius, if she was lying, she'd be dead. You need to buy a damn brain…_

_Well? __I look up and see Annett standing above us. __Are you going to or not?__She snaps. Going to what…? Oh, right. Let Jill feed… she needs this…_

_"__Who is she?" Jill whispers. I frown at her words._

_"__Whatcha mean?" She points to Annett. __Hold the damn phone, she sees her? So… she's shadow kissed too? Wow. Okay. __"__You're shadow kissed?" She looks to me, her eyes wide with fear, and nods. __Shit, if she's new to this, she won't know how to block out the pain. _

_As if on cue, her mouth opens in a silent scream and she raises her hands to her head. _

_Leave, Annett. Now,__I tell her. She smiles and puts her hands on her hips. She is obviously not leaving and my patience leaves me._

_You better fucking leave or I'll make you, __I scream in my head to her. She still doesn't leave and Jill lets out a scream. Oh, screw this._

_"__Get the hell out, now!" I shout at the top of my lungs. I've never talked to her out loud. In the blink of an eye, she's gone and Jill breathing heavily. "Does it hurt anymore?" She just shakes her head. _

_"__That's never happened before…" she whispers and shivers. I pull her closer and she leans into me._

_"__I'll teach you how to block the pain. It takes practice, but you'll get the hang of it. Don't worry." She only nods. "What else do they do here, Jill?" Her eyes meet mine, green staring back into blue. She sits up straighter starts talking._

_"__They compelled me. To know how to fight, better than a dhampir, and that kind of freaks me out. They also compelled us not to use our skills on them. Oh, and they gave me a tattoo." She holds out her wrist, but I see nothing, then it appears. Small lines, starting on her left should, snake and twist down her arm and connect to a bigger, bolder icon on her wrist. It's a dragon, __the__Dragomir symbol. I see small words hidden in the small vines, but nothing stands out, other than the tattoo on her wrist. It disappears again and Jill goes on. "I've only seen one other person, but she was… dead… she was dead…" _

_"__I guess this is all new to you then, right?" I ask. I knot my fingers together on my lap. She nods and smiles up at me, but it's gone immediately. "Jill, what's wrong?" I ask in a slightly frantic voice. She just shakes her head violently._

_"__No, no, no, no, no, no…" she mutters over and over again. I place my hands on her shoulders and shake her, trying to make her snap out of whatever this is._

_"__Jill, stop. Nothing's wrong." Suddenly, her head snaps up and anger is written all over her face._

_"__Nothing's wrong? The hell nothing's wrong!" she screams in a voice that sounds nothing like her. "My father kept me a secret from my sister and—and my brother! I never met my brother, because he didn't give me a goddamn chance! And…" a dark look crosses her features as she continues, "my __sister__. I hate her. Hate her so much. It's her fault I died and was kidnapped! If it weren't for her, I wouldn't fucking be here! Why the hell does she have to put me through so much pain just so she can be a damn queen?" The anger leaves her face and is replaced with pain and sadness. "Why… why does she put me through so much pain? Why doesn't she stop hurting me? Doesn't she know she's hurting me? She's my sister, she should know…" Her voice goes quiet and tears fall down her cheeks, and her eyes finally meet mine. "She should know she's hurting me, but… but she doesn't… and that only makes me hurt so much more… The only reason she'd want me back home is so she can keep her throne. She wouldn't even want me if she didn't need me to keep her throne. And she's never made me feel any different."_

_"__Jill, she loves you. She really does, it's just bad circumstances right now," I tell her, but she only starts shaking her head violently again. _

_"__No. No! That's just not true! She hates me! She only wants me because with me, she has a throne! No one wants me, not my father, not my sister, not my own mother, no one! I know exactly where I am, without any help from anyone and not seeing outside, or even the help from anyone, I know! They don't," her voice lowers down to a whisper and her eyes water up again. "They don't… they aren't finding me…" Her eyes connect with mine, and the pain in her eyes felt like a knife to my heart. I mean, anyone who saw this much hurt in another living persons eyes, you'd feel pain too. "Why aren't they finding me?" Her voice is so pained even my eyes tear up. Damn, I'm never this emotional. I try to give her a reassuring smile._

_"__They are, Jill. They are trying to find you. I promise you they are; I was helping them find you. Only for a day or so, but they were all so worried about you." I try to think of what would brighten her spirits and I think back to who she loves the most. "Especially Sydney," __I think that's her name,__ "__and Adrian," __he's the one who married the human, right? Respect, dude.__ "__and especially Eddie." That got her attention. Her eyes went wide and the emotion in them was now happiness and disbelief. _

_"__He… he misses me? Really?" I smile and nod, and, just like that, her rage isn't there anymore. What in God's name made her act like that anyways? Then I see her fight an inner battle with herself._

_Finally, she blows out a breath. "They're trying to turn me strigoi."_


	16. Chapter 16

_**Chapter Sixteen**_

_**Rose's POV**_

_"__Rose, have you seen Kore?" Karolina asks me. I shake my head. I haven't seen her today at all. Karolina frowns. "Something's wrong… I found this in her bag." She hands me and envelope. _

_"__Let's go get everyone else and open it there."_

_Half an hour later, everyone is sitting in the living room, waiting for me to open the envelope._

_"__Just open it Rose!" a few people say._

_"__Jesus, fine." I open the envelope and find a picture of three people. One is Jill, the other two look… almost identical. Definitely dhampirs. And they're all at St. Vlad's. Kore had a nephew from there right? On the back of the picture, it says, __Find these two._

_"__We have to go find her nephew."_

_I show him the pictures and he nods. "Yeah, they actually came here, too. They're twins, Sadie and Stefan Foxx."_

_"__How does Jill know them?" I question. He laughs._

_"__Those three have been inseparable since forever. I bet you couldn't find a picture with just one of them, it's always the three of 'em."_

_"__Do you know where they are now?" I ask and he nods._

_"__Yeah, they're training out in the left field." We thank him and head for the left field and when we see them… holy damn. They fight better than I did when I was eighteen. The girl takes the boy down and they start laughing. I finally get a good look at them. Their likeness is striking. Same raven black hair, piercing, odd eyes, a deep blue with gold surrounding them. Their skin color is lightly tanned and their smiles have the same warm feeling to them._

_Sadie first sees me, Dimitri, and Lissa and then looks at her twin. He sees us all too and they jog up to us. _

_"__Guardian Belikov, Guardian Hathaway, Your Majesty," Sadie greets us. Stefan slightly bows to Lissa and she smiles. Stefan kisses his sisters head and turns to his bag. Said rolls her eyes at her brother and turns her attention to us. "Can I help you?" I nod._

_"__Yes, you are acquainted with Jillian, right?" She frowns and then nods. "Do you know a dhampir named Kore?" Her frown deepens and she shakes her head. Then what was this for? "Maybe Kai knows something else…" I mutter to myself._

_"__Kai? You mean Kai Jesson?" I nod at her, still distracted. "Well, I know him. Me and him got our first moljina marks together." __Wait, what?_

_"__You both have moljina marks?" I ask her. She nods and turns around. She lifts her hair away from her neck, revealing three moljina marks, then drops her hair and turns back around._

_"__How'd you get those?" She hesitates in answering, but does._

_"__Kai's mother… she got turned strigoi. It was only a day before her best friend had to kill her, but apparently a small strigoi pack wanted her, and tried to get to him last year. He has four marks, I have three, and Stefan has four, too." I still don't understand this all._

_"__Okay, thank you." She smiles, nods, and walks toward her brother. _

_As we're walking back, I'm trying to figure out what all this has to do with anything._

_"__Rose? Rose! Liss, Dimitri! We have a problem!" I recognize Eddie's voice calling for us and I run to his voice._

_"__What?" I question him. Everyone in the room has a stricken look on their face. "What?" I ask again, but more demanding._

_"__We found blood. And her jacket."_

_"__Whose, Eddie?"_

_"__Kore's. We know someone took her… or killed her even… for helping us." She got hurt becayse of us? When does all of this end…_

_"__Shit…" I mutter. "Wait, how do you know it was for helping us?" He hands me a note and I read it._

_You shouldn't ask for help. We'll keep taking them out._

_You've been warned._

_-M._

_"__Who the hell is 'M'?" I ask to no one in particular._

_"__We have no idea, but the people who took her are the same people who took Jill."_

_"__This is all really bad…" There is a good chance we will never see Jill again…_


	17. Chapter 17

_**Chapter Seventeen**_

_"__How are they trying to turn you?" _

_"__By taking my blood and mixing it with strigoi blood. The strigoi feed on me, then bite their arm, take more blood, and put it back inside of me. It's really weird but… I think it's working…" she quietly adds._

_"__What? How the hell would that work?" I practically shout._

_"__When I got angry for no reason…." It hits me like a wrecking ball._

_"__You wanted to kill Lissa," I finish. She nods, looking ashamed. _

_"__Damn..." I mutter._

_Suddenly, the door flies open. On instinct, I move in front of Jill again, shielding her body._

_"__Ah, Kore. You need to give up the princess. We have something to finish with her." Finish? Finish turning her?_

_"__Like what?" I say. Shit, I just scared myself._

_"__Like making her one of us," snarls a voice I've never heard. Strigoi. They do want to turn her._

_"__If you want to turn someone, turn me," I tell them._

_Silence, dead silence. After a beat, the strigoi speaks again._

_"__I want her instead," he tells Marko. __Oh, thanks, asshole. I'm real freaking honored._

_"__Fine, we'll turn you, not her," he states. __Oh. Well shit. _

_The strigoi is next to me in the blink of an eye. __Showoff.__He pulls me up and I reluctantly follow him. This isn't going to be too fun…_

_My scream turns to a moan as the strigoi endorphins kick in. My arms fall to my side as he drinks. He's drinking so much…_

_My legs give out beneath me and he grabs me, and holds me up with one hand. _

_So… much… blood…_

_The world around me fades and I blackout._

_"__Wakey wakey," someone says near my ear._

_"__Oh fuck off," I growl. I feel different. Better. I open my eyes and look down at my arms. They're pale. So is the rest of my skin. My side where I got stabbed no longer hurts. I lift my shirt up. Scratch that, it's not even there anymore._

_"__Ah, it worked. Nice to see you." __Cue record scratch. It didn't work. I still have feelings. I'd do anything to get Jill out, still. Um, okay._

_"__Obviously, shit-for-brains," I growl at him again. Play the part, get the hell out._

_"__Well then. We're putting you back with the princess. Don't touch her," he orders. I roll my eyes and nod. "Okay let's go then."_

_The door slams behind me._

_"__Jill?" I call for her, quietly. Jesus, my eyes do a lot better in the dark. It's weird having fangs though…_

_My fangs shrink back to their regular size. What. The. Fuck. God, this is really weird. _

_I see her sitting in the corner and—oh Jesus, that's weird. I hear her slow, steady heartbeat. This is going to take some getting used to. Her shoulders slowly rise and fall. She's sleeping._

_I start to run to her side but it's almost like I teleported. _

_"__Jesus," I mutter. This is going to take a lot of getting used to… _

_It's the spirit, __a voice says from behind me and I jump._

_What do you mean? __I ask Annett._

_I mean my magic inside of you is holding off the strigoi blood. You can't lose your feelings, but you can turn on your strength, speed, and hearing when you want. It's like a mental switch you can flip. It's harder to turn off, and if you want to turn it on, you need to digest a small amount of Moroi blood, __she states. Well fuck… This is going to be awesome._

_So I don't need any kind of blood to survive? __I ask her._

_No,__she answers. __And you don't burn up in the sun, even if you have your strigoi perks turned on,__she adds. __And since I was strigoi and we were bonded, you have all of my years of power, __she finishes._

_You mean like I'm as powerful as a 6 year-old strigoi?__I ask and she nods. Oh, this is going to be fun._

_I hear a gasp from beside me. I turn and she Jill's shocked and fearful face._

_I calm her down and explain what I think happened and what Annett told me._

_"__Wow… This is actually possible?" she asks warily._

_"__Well, I have no desire to hurt you, or anyone else, I retracted my fangs, and my eyes aren't red. So, yeah, I think it's possible." She smiles slightly, but she still has a confused look on her face._

_"__It's just weird. You know, finding out things we've hidden from, could have the ability to be like you…" she shakes her head and looks back to me. "So, are we getting out of here?" she asks, he voice full of hope. I nod and bite my lip, if we're going to get out of here, I need to feed from her a little bit. It won't be a lot, but still._

_"__Yeah, but I'll have to drink… Just a little bit, but I will." She nods. I gotta give this girl credit for being as strong as she is. _

_"__Okay, so what's the plan?" _


	18. Chapter 18

_**Chapter Eighteen**_

_"__Okay, ready?" She nods and tilts her head to the side, baring her neck. "I'll try not to make it hurt too much…" I add. I concentrate on bringing out my fangs and soon hear a cracking noise. __Oh, Jesus. That hurt.__I near my face to her neck, pausing just to give her time to back out. She doesn't, so I bite down and drink. She screams and I cringe. _

_It takes ten seconds for the door to open and I launch away from Jill._

_"__What the he—" I snap both of their necks, effectively knocking them out for a few minutes._

_"__Jill, I have to kill them and I only have one way to do that," I warn her. Her eyes widen, but she nods and faces away from us. "Cover your ears." She does._

_Thirty seconds. That's how long it took me to rip off two people's heads with my bare hands. Okay, so that wasn't exactly fun. I think I got blood all over myself. Oops. _

_"__Jill, it's fine. Let's go." She turns and her stare lands on my shirt. "Yes, I know. Blood is all over me." I head out the door, Jill on my heels._

_"__How many others are here?" I demand the strigoi to tell me. I killed six others and I don't hear anyone else in the building._

_"__They aren't here," he spits out at me. _

_"__Fine," I say and grab my gun. "Bye bye," then I shoot him. Ahh, it's good to have you back baby. I'm dressed in my old clothes and so is Jill. I have all my weapons again. Well, except for my stake. I can't exactly hold that. Don't need it anyways._

_"__Ready to leave, Jill?" She nods and heads out the door. Sunlight hits us as soon as we walk out. It's early morning. Good, no strigoi to chase us. I have missed you sunlight. _

_"__Okay, let's go steal a car."_

_"__Wait, we're stealing a car? I don't want to steal some poor persons car!"_

_"__Jill, by the looks of the city, we're in LA and—"_

_"__I can compel someone from a car dealership." __That is a better idea…_

_"__Fine. You sure you can compel people?"_

_"__Positive…" She looks at me warily. "How long will it take to wear off?" __Wear off? Oh. My appearance._

_"__I'll turn it off. Hang on." I squeeze my eyes shut and concentrate on changing, hard. I feel my fangs shrink again and I feel less powerful. I open my eyes. "Good?" I ask. She smiles and nods. I start walking and she follows._

_"__Where are we going?" she questions me. I don't know, I've only been in LA a few times… _

_"__There," I say, pointing towards a huge sign with '__New Audi R8's!' __on it. __Oh, hell yes._

_ "__This color? Really? Do we have to?" I whine._

_"__Yes, we do. It's a beautiful color and it's still dark enough if we don't want to be seen. And anyways, I'm the one doing the compelling, so I get to pick the car," she states. __She's really scary when she order me around…_

_"__Ugh, fine. I won't die if we get the blue one," I mutter. She smiles, a conquering smile. The dealer walks over to us and gives us a charming smile._

_"__So, ladies, did you choose a color?" he asks, beaming. I glance at Jill and subtly nod. Jill smiles and looks directly in his eyes._

_"__Yes, we want this one. Go get a license plate for us and put it on. Do not tell people we haven't paid," she orders, her voice dripping like honey. Jesus, I wouldn't ever be able to resist that. The dealer nods and walks away. I stand next to her and scoff._

_"__You guys get to do all the awesome stuff…" I mutter to myself, but she hears me and laughs lightly. Then, I remember, she hasn't fed. "Jill, do you need to feed?" I ask her, my voice lowering so no one hears. The dealer returns and works on the car._

_Jill turns to me and shakes her head. "They head bottles of human blood," she shivers at the memory, "and I drank one, and took three other. I'll be fine," she reassures me._

_"__Where'd you put them?" I ask her, confused. She points to the insides of her jacket and I nod knowingly. I smile at her slyness._

_"__Nice," I comment._

_"__All done," the dealer tells us. Jill steps up to him, looking him in the eye again._

_"__Good. Now give me the keys, and let us leave," she orders him again, her voice still honey-like. He nods and leaves again, retuning a minute later with a set of keys. Jill reaches for the keys, but I grab them before she can. I shake my finger at her._

_"__No way. You're only sixteen. No way you're driving. C'mon," I say as I jog to the driver's side of the car. _

_She rolls her eyes and turns back to the dealer and orders him to never tell anyone what happened before turning back and getting in the car. _

_I start the car and smile over at Jill._

_"__Ready to go home?"_


	19. Chapter 19

_**Chapter Nineteen**_

_**Rose's POV**_

_I hear a loud noise from the other side of the door. I leap up but remember there are people fixing a broken wall in the other room. I sit back down and watch Mikhail and Eddie write some information on the board._

_I hear wind go by me with a __whoosh__. Then I feel a biting sensation in my neck I stand back up, but my legs give away, and I fall to the ground._

_"__Rose!" Lissa's voice._

_"__Is she okay?" Christian's voice._

_"__What the hell happened?" Adrian's voice._

_Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.__I hear several more people fall to the ground more frantic voices._

_"__I can't open the doors, there's a ward on them."_

_"__Same with the windows."_

_"__What's happening? Are they all okay?" I hear a loud collision. _

_"__They're fine, but they'll all be out for a few hours." Whose voice is that? I don't recognize it. "Now, we're going to have a talk about you're missing princess," the voice says, and then I hear nothing and I black out._

_**Kore's POV**_

_We're stopped at a gas station. With all the sun, Jill needs water and blood. I need to get us sunglasses so no one recognizes us. I pull out my wallet. At least Marko didn't put this somewhere different than all our clothes._

_I see the cashier look over my body and I roll my eyes. Seriously? All dhampirs have good looking bodies, but this kid is literally like fifteen years-old. Dear god… _

_"__Okay, I'm ready K—" her eyes widen and she thinks before she continues, "Kathryn?" she asks. She used a different name. Smart move, Jill. I smile at her._

_"__Okay, wait here a sec," I tell her and the boy hands me a bag. I smile at him. "Thanks." Jill walks to the car, not straying from my side._

_I step in and shut the door. So does Jill. I hand her water and sunglasses._

_"__Wear these. We don't want to chance being seen by a Moroi. Did you get enough blood?" She nods and rolls down her window. I start the car back up and turn back to the rode._

_After three hours of speeding, and not getting caught, we're in Pittsburgh._

_"__How much farther to Court?" Jill asks me._

_"__About twenty minutes," I say and look over at her. She's fidgeting with her hands. Why's she nervous? "Jill, don't be scared or nervous. They are going to be overjoyed you're back. Trust me," I reassure her. She bites her lip but nods. "Oh, and also, we have to sneak in," I add._

_"__What? Why would we sneak in?" she exclaims._

_"__We can't draw attention to ourselves. And you know they could only tell people they trust. It'll be easy, trust me."_

_"__Okay," she quietly says._

_~A mile away from Court._

_"__Jill, we have to walk. They can't see us," I tell her._

_"__Damn, we can't keep the car can we?" she asks sadly. I smile and toss her the keys._

_"__Just make sure they don't make a sound," I tell her. She beams at me and tucks them in her back pocket._

_~At Court._

_"__Just do it," I order her. She glares at me._

_"__No, I could hurt you!" she hisses in a whispered voice._

_"__You won't," I harshly whisper back. She groans and gives in._

_"__Fine, but if I do hurt you, it's your damn fault," she whispers._

_She steps on my hands and I lift her up to the window. She hops in with ease. I back up and eye the height. I run two the wall, jump and grab on to the ledge. I raise myself up and climb into the window. _

_There. Done. Mission Accomplished. I brought the princess back. _

_"__Do you hear that?" Jill asks in a low voice. I frown and listen, and I do hear it. I hear Marko. Jill's eyes widen, and I know why. By the sound of it, he has everyone she knows and loves held hostage._


	20. Chapter 20

p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"emstrongspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;"Chapter Twenty/span/strong/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;"The amount of fear and pain on Jill's face is almost unbearable. She just escaped Marko and he now has everyone in her life held hostage by him. span/ememspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"And now I have to go back to being strigoi. This is a really fun day./span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;""Jill. I'll help them, can I have some blood?" I tentatively ask. She swallows and nods, holding her wrist out to me. I concentrate and bring out my fangs, they still really hurt coming in, but it's easier now that I know how to do it. I bite and I know she's trying not to cry out in pain. I drink a small bit of her blood and release her arm.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;"The feel that courses through my blood feels like pure bliss. It's addictive and I don't want to give it up. I close my eyes and swallow the blood. Feeling her blood ignite my powers, fueled by the darkest evil that exists, is like heaven. span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;"If heaven was the equivalent of hell. I can feel my morals dimming a small bit, but I stop that. span/ememspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Don't lose control. /span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;""Save them. I don't care what you do to him, just save them," she begs. I turn to her and the fear in her eyes hits me hard. "Please don't let them get hurt," she says in a weak voice. I smile at her, feeling the odd sensation of my fangs against my lips. span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;""Don't worry, I'll save them," I reassure her. I look at the door and try to walk towards it, but something pushes me away. Fucking wards…span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;""Here, I'll hold it back long enough for you to break to door," Jill says as she steps up next to me. She raises her hand towards the door and motions for me to break the door. I stand in front of the door and kick it. Hard. But it doesn't budge. So I kick it again. Even harder than the last time. span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;"This door is invincible. I step back and put all the strength I have into this kick. The door flies to the other side of the room.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;""What in—" I use my speed to quickly move to the other side of the room, right in front of two strigoi. They take me in, realizing I'm one of them; they nod, answering my unsaid question. They're new strigoi, no match for me. They'll listen to me. I speed to a person and snap their neck. span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;"People come at me and another part of me takes over. span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;"I have a sister. These people hurt my sister. I'll kill anyone who hurts my sister. Even if she doesn't know we're remotely related, I'm still her older sister, and I'd do anything to protect her. span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;"I blink a few times, realizing that I've killed almost everyone.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Save him,span/ememspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;" Annett sneers. /span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;""Fucking save who, Annett?" I answer out loud. She nods her head towards the people in the room. Some are sitting, other are knocked out cold.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Your blood is strigoi blood. It heals you, it heals everyone, span/ememspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;"she states. Well this just keeps getting better and better. Who am I supposed to heal again?/span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;""Eddie," whispers a voice in front of me. I look up and see Jill's pain stricken face. I turn and see a guy, dhampir, lying on the ground. He has two visible marks on his neck and blood is pooling around his torso. span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;"Jill looks behind me and her eyes slightly widen. Oh, right. The two strigoi. Eh, they aren't a problem.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;""If you touch her, I will slowly rip you limb from limb. And I'll make sure you stay alive for a lot of it, too," I say, not looking at them. Jill visibly relaxes and I hear them step back.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;"I walk over to the dhampir. His name is Eddie, right? I think it is… whatever. How do I do this…? Ok, I'll just drink some of my blood and inject it into him? This is all really fucking weird… span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;"I bring my wrist up to my mouth and bite. span/ememspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Ow./span/ememspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;" Damn, this feels really weird… I suck out blood from my wrist, and quickly bite his neck, pushing my blood into him./span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;"I turn him over, to see what caused him to bleed, and find a large gash on his torso. After a few more moments, it starts to get smaller and smaller. I closes up and his eyes snap open. I bolt up, knowing his first instinct is to kill me. A strigoi.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;"I'll never get used to that… span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;"His eyes land on Jill and he freezes, totally dumbstruck. His mouth falls open and he slowly gets up. Dried blood still covers his shirt, but Jill doesn't seem to care. She launches herself into his arms, and he immediately wraps his arms around her. They stay like that for a good minute and I realize that half of the people here are still laying on the ground, knocked out cold. span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;"I need to leave. Like five minutes ago. span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;""They'll wake up in like twenty minutes, but they'll be tired and disoriented for a while. I have to go before-–" span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;""Your Majesty?" I hear voices shot repeatedly. And I need to leave right now. I remember the two strigoi behind me. I turn to them and look them in the eye.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;"I pull my 'stake' gun out and shoot them both in the heart, killing them.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;"Four Guardians walk in and immediately see me. span/ememspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Oh. Shit./span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;"They pull out their stakes and get into fighting stances. I'm not going to hurt them. Shit, this is bad. I look to my left and see my answer. I speed to the windows and pray this isn't a really stupid damn idea. I close my eyes.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;"And jump. I hit the ground and the pain in my body is a lot less than I thought it would be. I don't even think and my instincts kick in. I will not hurt anyone, no matter what. So, I stand up.span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; font-style: normal;"And run.span/em/p 


End file.
